I spent five years at Forbes writing about business and leadership, attracting nearly one million unique visitors to Forbes.com each month. While here, I assistant edited the annual World’s 100 Most Powerful Women package and helped launch and grow ForbesWoman.com. I've appeared on CBS, CNBC, MSNBC and E Entertainment and speak often at conferences and events on women's leadership topics. I graduated summa cum laude from New York University with degrees in journalism and sociology and was honored with a best in business award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) in 2012. My work has appeared in Businessweek, Ladies’ Home Journal, The Aesthete and Acura Style. I live in New York City with my husband and can be found on Twitter @Jenna_Goudreau, Facebook, and Google+.

The Best-Paying Work-At-Home Jobs

Across age groups and job categories, demand is growing for good-paying work that can be done right from home. Nervous about falling 401ks, boomers hope to continue earning income without the hours or stress of office life. Gen Xers, often caring for elderly parents or young children, are thirsty for flexibility. And younger cohorts are attracted to “free agency” more than ever.

“There’s less willingness today to be a cube-dweller or lifetime commuter,” says Michael Haaren, co-director of RatRaceRebellion.com and co-author of Work at Home Now. “Being able to work from home makes life easier and appeals to the latent entrepreneur.”

While there may be a tradeoff to working at home—a salary haircut and less advancement potential—a surprising amount and variation of well-paying professional jobs have a two-second commute. From the health, tech and creative industries, good at-home jobs are springing up everywhere.

According to Haaren, the work-from-home sector reflects what’s going on in the brick-and-mortar economy. Today, that means an explosion of new and diverse health-care jobs. Top-paid among them are home-based physicians and radiologists, now being hired by companies like Imaging On Call and Permedion to review and evaluate patient cases. Haaren suspects they earn near the $1,975 median weekly income of physicians, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), making it a six-figure job.

What’s more, the burgeoning field of “telehealth” provides quality wages and sometimes full benefits or bonuses. Companies like MedQuist are beginning to hire more at-home support staff, like medical transcriptionists. Haaren estimates they earn between $30,000 and $50,000 a year and says they are eligible for a signing bonus. Similarly, registered nurses working at home earn near the $1,055-per-week industry median to do telephone triage, advising patients about health concerns over the phone.

IT was one of the first fields to latch onto the anywhere mentality, Haaren says, likely due to its young workforce and penchant for abstraction. In 2008, completely virtual IT company MySQL was acquired for $1 billion by what’s now Oracle. Its at-home staff means reduced building costs and a bigger talent pool. Plus, it’s a boon for the employees. The BLS reports that computer software engineers earn a median of $1,549 each week and $85,000 a year. Computer scientists, programmers and systems administers all earn about $1,200 per week.

Other lucrative at-home knowledge jobs include public relations specialists, graphic designers, writers and authors, and postsecondary teachers. According to the book Make Money Teaching Online by Danielle Babb and Jim Mirabella, if online adjunct professors work hard enough, they can earn six-figure salaries.

Haaren warns that some older fields, like law and high finance, haven’t caught up to the flexibility demands of the new workforce but show signs of cracking. For example, JPMorgan Chase sometimes recruits regional home-based mortgage executives. While these positions are limited, financial managers earn a median of $1,227 per week. On the lower end of the spectrum, earning a median of $1,061 each week, home-based tax preparers are being hired by companies like Intuit.

Studies show that at-home workers are willing to earn up to 30% less and experience heightened productivity, says Haaren. When added to the savings on real estate costs, “It’s a good deal for both.”

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I just got a job from home working in a call center. They are starting me at 9/hr.

west at home, arise, and liveops just to name a few…. all hiring.

A few weeks back I was tired of answering ads that seemed legit until they would respond with a video, “Earn 1000/week”… UGH!!! so I stumbled on this CL ad for a Ebook manual with over 30 links of companies that are hiring…. I was skeptical. But bought it anyway, 7 bucks later I got a really informative ebook with links and info about each company…

best $7 I ever spent. And I was able to get a job, so…. its worth it.

http://tinyurl.com/telebible

All the info in the book is available online, and I’m sure there are some free manuals like this one online, but they saved me a lot of time.

Very nice list although not many people are working or have the required skills in those industries.

We’re launching a new service allowing people to earn money through their Facebook accounts. An extremely easy job requiring people to like pages that we send them and they will earn $0.2 per Like. At a rate of 100 likes per day, our members could easily earn $600/month for about 2.5 hours of work! This is not a scam, we’re a service providing companies in need of Likes on their Facebook page to receive many in a short amount of time.

This is a new trend online servicing companies but most of the companies out there are not profiling their users, using fake profiles or at best not offering such a high commission. As a result, we are very proud to give away 75% of our sales towards our users helping many people in need to increase their revenues for very little work.

Excellent article! I am so glad you mentioned telecommuting healthcare and education jobs! I have been working from home for the past 12 years. Unfortunately, when telling someone that I “work from home”, they get the dreaded look in their eyes thinking that I’m out to recruit them for some new multi level marketing program out there.

In reality, I have a background in both healthcare and education. I owned a medical billing and coding company for years and both worked from home and hired home based workers. The field of medical coding, in particular, should be added to your list. There is a large need for good coders and the pay is lucrative.

After selling my company, I turned from entrepreneur to college professor and taught both in the classroom and virtually. Again, it is very satisfying to work for a University’s virtual degree programs because you tend to receive older students working in the field that really are serious about an education.

Its great to have such an almost all inclusive article on work from home jobs. Another look from the work at home jobs is the affiliate marketing model which gives an entrant a seamless entry into work at home as it costs less. An example is SFI and its baby tripleclicks. You can learn more through this link; http://goo.gl/zi0Iwt

Searching online for different sites to get tis on creating the perfect resume was very time consuming for me.My friend recommended this site and I was pleasantly surprised. The instructor knew what they were talking about. They suggested simple adjustments that really made it sound more professional. I highly recommend this site! https://student.gototraining.com/66n51/catalog/4324182763623444480

The author of this article is delusional if they believe that medical transcriptionists earn 30,000 a year. Try minimum wage. All work is now going to India, who by the way now has all your personal and medical information. From what I understand, they are now using this information for phone scams trying to extort money from the american public.

The author should really be ashamed for not doing any research before setting pen to paper.